William Allen (governor)

William Allen (18 December 1803-11 July 1879) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-OH 7) from 4 March 1833 to 3 March 1835 (succeeding Samuel Finley Vinton and preceding William K. Bond), a US Senator from 4 March 1837 to 3 March 1849 (succeeding Thomas Ewing and preceding Salmon P. Chase), and Governor from 12 January 1874 to 10 January 1876 (succeeding Edward Follansbee Noyes and preceding Rutherford B. Hayes).

Biography
William Allen was born in Edenton, North Carolina in 1803, and he moved to Chillicothe, Ohio in 1819. He was admitted to the bar in 1824, and he began his career in Democratic Party politics at a young age. He served in the US House of Representatives from 1833 to 1835 and in the US Senate from 1837 to 1849, and he supported the annexation of all of Oregon (even if it meant war with Britain) and popular sovereignty, although he opposed the American Civil War. He died in 1879.